People v. Stadnick

HERNDON, J. This is an appeal by Edward Frank Stadniclc from a judgment of conviction of first degree robbery (Pen. Code, §211), following a jury trial. Appellant was found to have been armed at the time of the offense and to have suffered two prior felony convictions. The first assignment of error is to the effect that “the basic case against appellant was unconvincing.” We shall assume that by this assertion appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict of the jury. An examination of the record discloses that the evidence supporting the jury’s verdict is overwhelming.

A Mr. Townsend was an assistant manager of the Stater Brothers Market in Pomona on the evening of December 30, 1959. At approximately 8:30 p. m., after Mr. Townsend had removed the money from each of five registers, appellant approached him and handed him a note which stated that he was being held up and that two people were involved in the [777]holdup. Appellant showed the victim a gun which appeared to be a German P-38, a weapon which Mr. Townsend had carried as a side arm in World War II. At appellant’s direction Townsend accompanied him to the office area where he took possession of some $1,200 in cash. While appellant was shoving his gun back under his waistband, Townsend suddenly struck at him with his fists. Appellant struck back and caused Mr. Townsend to trip over a stool and strike the back of his head against a wall. Appellant then stood over him and struck him numerous times with his fists. Townsend did not lose consciousness, and, after appellant had left, he called the police. He was thereafter hospitalized for the injuries which he had sustained.

A box boy at the store testified that he had interrupted appellant and Townsend while they were still in the front part of the store near a cheek stand in order to give Townsend certain coupons out of the cash registers. This witness noticed that Townsend thanked him in a rather strange voice, and he commented to another employee that it was strange Mr. Townsend would be talking to someone rather than taking the money from the registers directly to the office. This witness also remembered seeing appellant in the store at approximately the same hour some three or four days earlier.

A janitor at the store recalled seeing and speaking to appellant regarding another janitor at the side of the store around 7:30 p. m. on the night of the robbery. This witness saw him again when appellant brushed by him at about 8 :45 p. m., and “he was walking pretty fast.” This witness also remembered seeing and speaking to appellant twice during the preceding week at a nearby gas station where the witness also had been employed. From the information given the police by these three witnesses, it had been possible to compose a rather clear picture of appellant. Each of the witnesses was able to pick appellant out of a police lineup of approximately 12 persons some 15 days after the robbery. Townsend also recognized appellant’s voice in the lineup as being the same voice as that of the man who had held him up in the market.